I doubt they will go this direction but…
Windows as a service would only serve to help linux grow faster in adoption. I see no downside. Only a little heartache at first for those of us gaming.
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So we are going from a local desktop to basically a thin client type system, no? With MS taking care of all of the updates and such for us, we can have the OS get out of the way and do the work that we need to do. To me, as a layman user, that seems pretty cool. I would also imagine that we would have more stability since Windows is being run on one piece of hardware ( their server ) instead of having problems because of different hardware from having windows being run locally on a users own machine, since their are a bunch of differences from one computer to another computer hardware wise. Think of different SSD’s, wireless cards and such.
The hard to read Update Box from the early launch days of Windows 10 is not what this article was referring to. If that’s what they meant, they did a very poor job explaining that.
Congrats on moving to Linux. But the difficulty changing back might just be because people are not familiar with the system. It’s under settings.
I can’t remember how long ago I predicted this move to a subscription model but it was years and years ago. Every time I made mention of my idea I would be told how wrong I was and how MS would never do this. Business first then the consumer will be asked for a monthly subscription. I’m sure it will look much like Office 365. They have already started to refer to Windows as Windows 365.
There are what three games right now keeping Windows around for me. It’s mainly my old clan mates I have been playing with the same bunch of guys for the best part of 20 years. That is the only reason I’m still running Windows on one of my boxes.
I was referring to kms. Microsoft’s key management service. Its used for enterprise volume licensing.
Clients must connect once every 30 days to reactivate.
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Oh yes, moving to Linux is non trivial. I was first using Linux back around the time of Windows 8.1 but I needed time to know basic things about how Linux works. If someone wants to move to Linux, it has to be a transition, not cold turkey.
It takes time but it was definitely worth my time to learn knowing what it’s capable of.
I’d like to see a position for why Microsoft won’t do it.
@Eden the following is an opinion 
I think they will need to let the platform be a wash in terms of cost. Instead of buying windows you are buying an ecosystem.
Tiered in a manner of usag maybe:
- gamers
- creators
- small business
I’m trying to think of a reason I’d spend money monthly for the platform. Included Netflix or some form of entertainment?
Like I said, I think they will try to do this but the market will resoundingly reject it. People don’t want to rent their OS. It’s fundamentally different than renting an office suite.
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There are easier ways to kill off your product. I doubt that they’ll do it, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they tried.
Everyone is missing the elephant in the room.
Gamers.
Gamers, especially with my generation who grew up watching games on youtube, are HUGE in the PC world. I don’t think Microsoft really realizes how many people are on their system for gaming. “PCMASTERRACE” is a huge deal. Millions, lots of millions, game on windows - and not on console.
A thin client won’t work with this, latency would be god awful. If windows does this, I know it’s said every year, but as a Linux user for 4 days now (and loving it) maybe the big switching could happen.
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This is a licensing thing, it isn’t a thin client streaming from the cloud somewhere.
On a side note, it’s 2018 now, and game streaming from the cloud works really well for most genres. I played a couple hours of Tomb Raider on the Nvidia gamestream thing to test it out. Very low latency and it looked great at normal couch distances. I doubt it will work well for split-second twitch games like Super Meat Boy or fighting games in the near future, but for shooters, strategy games, RPGs, etc, it’s fine.
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That’s what it looked like on the thread. Everyone kept mentioning it.
Either way, it’s a dumb idea. Nobody wants to rent an OS
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Did I miss something? It doesn’t say Windows will run on a server at all. It says:
Microsoft Managed Desktop is a new take. It avoids the latency problem of the older Windows DaaS offerings by keeping the bulk of the operating system on your PC.
It is the adobe model: You subscribe to the software and still have to buy your own hardware.
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I think this’ll be hilarious to watch.
Ehh, if this happens, I’m not surprised. Some people will be happy to use windows this way, some won’t. Microsoft will never eliminate the option to stay with the traditional model because they have a near monopoly on education and government. Those two alone will be able to solely dictate Microsofts base offerings because it’s a major part of their lifeline. Train students on the platform and make them dependant and then implant it in the one organization that won’t ever fail.
Either way, it’s a bit of a nothing burger.
Have you tried to get an enterprise or education key windows key? I have, because those licenses allow you to disable their telemetry. It’s not so easy.
Anyway, MS won’t force it on everybody in this case because Dell/HP/etc won’t let them.
lol they take what ever telemetry they wanna.
The options you can turn off is far from 100% of the data they collect, they add to the pool every patch they force down you throat.
And inconviently reset your telemetry dials.
Your best deal is install the “free”(e.g. just dont register) version, accept the watermark in the corner and enjoy some gaming.
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Unregistered windows still sends telemetry.
The Windows enterprise and education “security” setting turns off pretty much everything. Cortana still sends every local filesystem search along to Bing, but you can just block that in the firewall.
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I miss typed… I meant Microsoft 365 rather than Windows 365. That said I can imagine them calling the monthly subscription being called Windows 365 but that is speculation on my part.
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